CPI announces finalists for 2014 Polyurethane Innovation Award

The conference will take place at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Dallas, TX, USA.

“We received such exciting submissions for this year’s 2014 Polyurethane Innovation Award, and I am very proud to recognize these three outstanding finalists,” said CPI Senior Director Lee Salamone. “I congratulate all three companies on their work to advance technology and the polyurethane industry. It was a very difficult choice for the judges due to outstanding entries from many companies.”

The innovations selected as finalists for this year’s coveted award are:

• BASF: Infinergy
  With Infinergy, BASF introduces the world’s first particle foam based on expanded, thermoplastic polyurethanes. The combination of important mechanical properties and easy processing with an available technology make the material unique. Infinergy offers unprecedented unknown high energy return with excellent tensile and flexural characteristics. As a result, Infinergy is used as main sole component of adidas’ new running shoe series Boost, brought to market shortly after its development at BASF. Numerous additional applications are planned in the leisure, sports or packaging sector.
• Dow: Teraforce Technology
  This collaborative innovation between the Dow Chemical Company and Preferred Sands expands the frontiers of polyurethane applications by improving oil productivity and the sustainability profile of the hydraulic fracturing process, which is an important element of the US energy boom, manufacturing renaissance and job creation. Preferred RCS Resin Coated Sand with Dow Teraforce technology (the enabling polyurethane) saves energy during production of the resin-coated proppant through shorter production cycles and low temperature, and reduces hazardous risks associated with proppant flowback. The technology also eliminates the need for an external activator, or additional chemicals, that competing technologies require to be injected into oil wells. The two companies continue to develop technologies for broader applications across energy markets, and ever-more efficient and sustainable oil and gas recovery.
• Novomer: Converge
  Novomer Inc. has pioneered technology that allows waste carbon dioxide to be combined with traditional chemical feedstocks to produce polypropylene carbonate polyols for use in polyurethane formulations. These polyols contain more than 40 % carbon dioxide and are targeted for use in coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers, as well as rigid and flexible foams. They are being marketed under the Converge trade name, representing the convergence of performance, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability. In addition to reducing the petrochemical feedstocks by up to 50 %, Converge polyols are unique in their alternating CO₂-epoxide units in the carbonate backbone. This structure yields high performance properties such as durability, chemical and UV resistance, and strength. Converge polyols also have a significantly reduced carbon and energy footprint compared to traditional polyols.